DIY Window Trim

DIY Window Trim

*This post is sponsored by Woodgrain and some of the links below are affiliate links. For more detailed information please see full disclosure.*

Hey everyone! How was your weekend? I hope you were able to enjoy some time with family and friends. It has been pretty chilly here these past few days and I have been cozying up by the fire inside our house. 

I mean, is there anything better than a wood burning fireplace??? ?

As promised, I am back with my other post that I talked about last week. This post has been a long time coming, however, since it has been just my hubby and I that do this as we progress through our house (and he has a full time job), this project has taken a little longer than expected. 

But alas, here we are! 

The minute we walked into our new home I noticed something immediately – there were no casings around my windows.

They looked naked. ?

I had never owned a home without window casings before and the windows just looked bizarre to me. I knew that the windows were going to have to be addressed at some point. 

Of course, we had to remove the popcorn ceilings, repaint the walls, remove and install new flooring, replace the baseboards and fix the kitchen…. 

So after all of that was done it was time to get started.

I went to Pinterest to see what kind of inspiration was out there and naturally, I went to Canva to draw up what I had in mind after I decided on a look.

This is what I ended up with.

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You can also watch the video tutorial on Youtube as well!  

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I used 3 different sized pieces of millwork for my window casing. I wanted a large 5.5″ inch (actual size) millwork piece for the top. 1.5″ pieces for the top trim pieces and 3.5″ pieces for the sided and below the window sill. 

I didn’t want the casing to be just a square so  I wanted the top part and the sill to come out the sides a little more. 

They ended up being 1.5″ wider than the side casings. Feel free to take a screen shot and save these images for future reference if you wish to do something similar. 

Once the drawings were done, it was time to get to work. The first thing we needed to do was demo the existing window sills. You will need to score the edges with a box cutter and then use a hammer and crowbar to remove the existing sill. 

 

Once you remove the sill, you need to make sure that all the nails are removed and any debris is vacuumed up with a shop vac.

Then it was time to cut the new casings! 

For this we used Woodgrain’s Finished Elegance millwork from their Timeless Craftsman collection. The pieces are all pre-primed and their finish is super smooth. They are all cut with square edges that are slightly rounded so the corners aren’t so harsh. 

Woodgrain is celebrating 65 years of manufacturing and their dedication to providing great wood products is exceptional. They offer millwork of all styles and they are both manufacturer & distributor of their wood products. I was honored to actually go and visit one of their distribution centers here and they have such an amazing operation. Woodgrain also manufactures doors and windows. 

Another great thing about Woodgrain is that they really consider the environment. Whenever lumber goes through their sawmills and millwork facilities they capture the wood fibers and shavings from when they cut down the lumber and then use that for animal bedding (the type used in stables etc.). That’s pretty awesome! 

And the best thing about their millwork is that you can buy it at your local Home Depot. So, if you are looking to update your home, definitely give their products a try! 

Okay… so after we took the necessary measurements we cut each window based on their exact measurements. Since our home is older we knew that there were going to be slight differences here and there.

We used our miter saw to cut the pieces to length, and used the jigsaw only for the window sills. 

Next, we set the sill in place and nailed the sill in with a brad nailer. 

We placed the sill first and then the 2 side pieces. We made sure to use liquid nails along with the brad nailer to install the rest of the trim. 

The top piece was assembled before it was installed as shown below. 

Finally, the last piece that was installed was the trim piece that went underneath the window sill. 

After everything was attached, we went in with Woodgrain’s Finished Elegance caulk and made sure to seal all the seams so that it looked like the window casings were always there. 

And even though these are pre-primed I still went in with my favorite paint to cover all of the nail holes and the sides that were cut exposing the MDF. I wanted to make sure everything was seamless and that the casings matched my new baseboards as well. 

After everything was done, this is how they turned out! 

They totally changed the look of the windows! 

By adding casing in this design the windows look even bigger and are now a focal point in the rooms.  

And they go perfectly with our new Woodgrain baseboards!

What do you think of the change? Here is a side by side. 

Now, there were a few windows in the home where we could not case out the windows completely because of the lack of space between them. So, we made sure to replace the window sills and paint everything light and those windows still look great! 

I am extremely pleased with their new look and how simple it was to add so much character and value to our home. 

Let me know if you have any questions below! And share this with anyone who wishes to “level-up” the look of their windows. ?

I will see you soon! 

Until then…adios!